Many applications require compact coherent sources of radiation with stable output, controlled wavelength and/or spectrum, short pulse width, TEM00 beam, and improved slope efficiencies. Injection seeding is a technology commonly employed to fulfill such requirements. By controlling the spectral properties of a power oscillator, referred to as slave or seeded laser, with an external low power output laser, referred to as master or seed laser or seeder, optical properties such as wavelength selection and control, spectrum stability, beam quality, as well as system efficiency and reliability, can be improved, while practical problems associated with high power lasers can be eliminated or reduced. These problems include nonuniform pump profiles, thermally induced optical distortions or thermal-lensing caused laser beam quality degradation, and degradation or damage of optical components or optical materials including lasing gain media or dielectric films. Injection seeding can also improve laser output power stability and reduce laser pulse to pulse jitter.
Conventional injection seeding is based on stabilized wavelength of the seed laser (master), active control of the resonance wavelength or longitudinal modes of the seeded laser (slave), and locked phase angle between the injected and output signals.
One way to stabilize seed laser wavelength is by use of filtered optical feedback. As an example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,048, Shichijyo et al. used an external wavelength sensitive optical device and a birefringent Lyot filter for improving the wavelength stability. Another way to accomplish the wavelength stabilization of a semiconductor laser was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,228, wherein the drive current and the laser temperature were controlled by feedback signals derived from an external Fabry-Perot interferometer. Alternatively, the wavelength reference can be located within the oscillator, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,930,822. Wavelength stabilization can also be accomplished by movement of an optical element, e.g., rotation of a prism inside the laser, together with a signal processor. An example of such systems is given in U.S. Pat. No. 6,393,037. Other means of wavelength stabilization includes adjusting the temperature or angular tilt or spacing of an intracavity etalon; or adjusting the angle of a prism, a grating, a mirror, or a birefringent filter; or adjustment of the cavity length.
Active control of the resonance wavelength of a seeded laser oscillator to match the injected wavelength within the necessary tolerance typically requires modifications of the oscillator cavity, as well as complicated and expensive control systems and phase locking. Moreover, a plurality of optical elements including at least a set of lenses for beam shaping and at least one isolator for avoiding the backward traveling wave entering into the seeder, which otherwise may cause unstable laser operation or even damage the seeder, are required. This further increases the system complication and size. Furthermore, alignment and adjustment of optical systems are time consuming and require special skills.
In U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/170,911, Luo et al. invented a method and a device employing continuous wavelength sweeping for master-slave resonance to replace stringent cavity length control and phase locking in injection seeding. This invention greatly reduces system complications and cost, and paves the way for development of a user-friendly system, requiring minimum efforts of end-users in various applications.
It would be valuable and, in fact, is an object of the present invention to provide for a self-contained injection source, which is cost-effective and ready for direct use without any additional efforts. In addition, it can be remotely used for injecting seeds into a slave, which is an ordinary optical oscillator without any modification or adaptation, for wavelength and spectrum control. Alternatively, the seeder can be built, as a drop-in package, into a seeded laser assembly, which is not modified otherwise. This capability is particularly useful for original equipment manufacture (OEM) applications.